California Attorney General Kamala Harris is asking private law firms to provide free legal help to the wave of Central American children pouring into the state.

Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

California Attorney General Kamala Harris is asking private law...

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In this June 25, 2014 photo, a group of immigrants from Honduras and El Salvador who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally are stopped in Granjeno, Texas. Just since October, the Border Patrols Rio Grande Valley sector has made more than 194,000 arrests, nearly triple that of any other sector. Most are from Central America, and many are children.

Photo: Eric Gay, Associated Press

In this June 25, 2014 photo, a group of immigrants from Honduras...

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A protester who opposes arrivals of buses carrying largely women and children undocumented migrants for processing at the Murrieta Border Patrol Station and a counter-demonstrator (left) face off on July 4, 2014 in Murrieta, California. Earlier this week, protesters in the city turned away buses carrying about 140 immigrants that had been apprehended in Texas and flown to California for processing as Texas deals with an influx of immigrants. Federal officials estimate more than 50,000 minors, mostly from Central America, have been caught crossing the border since October 2013.

Photo: David McNew, Getty Images

A protester who opposes arrivals of buses carrying largely women...

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Counter-demonstrators to protesters opposing arrivals of buses carrying largely women and children undocumented migrants for processing at the Murrieta Border Patrol Station are detained on July 4, 2014 in Murrieta, California. Five people were arrested. Earlier this week, protesters turned away buses carrying about 140 immigrants in custody to the processing center. The immigrants are being flown from Texas where authorities are dealing with a with a crush of Central American children crossing the border to turned themselves in to border patrol agents. The influx is being fueled as people flee drug and violence problems in Central America with misinformation about immigration laws, and by drug cartels smuggling unaccompanied children of all ages across the border then leaving them on the U.S. side.

Photo: David McNew, Getty Images

Counter-demonstrators to protesters opposing arrivals of buses...

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In this June 20, 2014 photo, Napoleon Garza stands on his property along the Rio Grande at a site where immigrants cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally in Granjeno, Texas. Just since October, the Border Patrols Rio Grande Valley sector has made more than 194,000 arrests, nearly triple that of any other sector. Most are from Central America, and many are children.

Photo: Eric Gay, Associated Press

In this June 20, 2014 photo, Napoleon Garza stands on his property...

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Boarder Patrol agents escort a 4-year-old boy and his 17-year-old uncle (not pictured) from Honduras into a transport vehicle after the two crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico into Anzaldulas Park and turned themselves into a Hidalgo County Precinct 3 Constable Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014, in Mission. Anzaldulas Park is on the frontline of what federal officials have dubbed "the surge" a steep increase in the numbers of children caught crossing the border illegally and alone. Arrests have spiked from 8,000 in 2008 to more than 38,000 last year.

Photo: Johnny Hanson, Houston Chronicle

Boarder Patrol agents escort a 4-year-old boy and his 17-year-old...

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Texas Gov. Rick Perry talks to members of the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security about the humanitarian and national security crises going on along the Texas-Mexico border Thursday July 3, 2014 in McAllen, Texas. Perry said that the tens of thousands of Central American children entering the U.S. illegally is both a humanitarian crisis and a national security one.

Photo: Gabe Hernandez, Associated Press

Texas Gov. Rick Perry talks to members of the U.S. House Committee...

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U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, speaks about the influx of unaccompanied immigrant children on Sunday, July 6, 2014, in Houston after a three-day visit to South Texas. Lee called on the community of Houston to work voluntarily for the needs of these children crossing the U.S-Mexico border. More than 52,000 unaccompanied children have been apprehended since October. Standing with Lee is the Rev. Larry Williams.

Immigrants children wait with parents as Border Patrol agents process them in Granjeno, Texas. The city is just north of "Rincon del Diablo," the Devil's Corner, a hotbed of illegal border crossing on the Rio Grande by juvenile and mothers with children immigrants from Central America.

State Attorney General Kamala Harrisis asking private law firms to provide free legal help to the wave of Central American children pouring into the state.

Harris has called for a sit-down Wednesday in her San Francisco office with attorneys from a dozen firms, as well as with representatives of nonprofits, legal-aid groups and charities.

The idea is to find private sources to help the children in their deportation hearings in Northern California, similar to an effort under way in Southern California.

"This is a humanitarian crisis of children fleeing extreme violence," said Harris spokesman David Beltran. "This group will work to ensure these children receive due process under existing immigration laws."

Beltran said the attorney general's office itself is legally barred from representing the youngsters, so Harris is using her "convening power" to pull together private help.

The exact number of unaccompanied children showing up at the California border is hard to come by, but we're told that the federal immigration courts in San Francisco are handling 80 cases a day involving youngsters.

Officials tell us that nine out of 10 children who appear at immigration hearings without a lawyer are sent home - while only about half of those who have an attorney are deported.

Tens of thousands of refugees and asylum seekers from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras have entered the country since October, and about 3,000 of them have been placed with sponsors in California. Schools in both San Francisco and Oakland have reported a surge in enrollment of immigrant children who arrived here unaccompanied.

Wall comes down: Just two months after voters overwhelmingly said "no wall on the waterfront," developers of a proposed $100 million housing and office development at Pier 70 have scored the key endorsement of the Sierra Club in their bid to exceed height limits in the area.

Proposition F, which goes before voters in November, would allow Forest City Enterprises to double the height limit for buildings in its project to 90 feet. That's still far below the 230 feet that Forest City first proposed.

Of course, that proposal was on the table before voters rebelled against plans for high-end condos at 8 Washington and the Golden State Warriors' proposed waterfront arena. In June, they passed Proposition B, giving themselves the last word on waterfront high-rise proposals.

Forest City promptly scaled back the towers at Pier 70, increased the proportion of housing units classified as "affordable" to 30 percent and guaranteed a waterfront walkway.

The company also brought on political consultant Jim Stearns, who worked with the "no wall" forces, and held meeting after meeting in the community. Eventually, it won over many of the key figures in the waterfront fight, including former Mayor Art Agnos.

Now the Sierra Club has climbed aboard, which is going to look very nice on pro-Prop. F flyers.

"We will be following the project through the rest of the permitting process," said local Sierra Club Chairwoman Becky Evans. "But it looks like a good idea at this point."

Foreign policy: UC Berkeley may be headed for a milestone, with campus officials predicting that a record 23 percent of undergraduates this fall will be from outside California.

The figure is even higher for the freshman class, with an estimated 30 percent expected to come from either out of state or other countries - mainly China, South Korea, India, Singapore and Canada.

Out-of-state and international students are an attractive commodity for UC, because they pay $22,878 annually on top of the in-state tuition of $12,972.

UC Berkeley spokeswoman Janet Gilmore said the increase in out-of-state students doesn't affect in-state admissions. She says in-state enrollment is a set figure, based on state funding - or lack of it.

This way, at least UC gets some money.

Brown's bucks: Former mayor and current Chronicle columnist Willie Brownis being paid $100,000 to represent developers in their fight to roll back the special tax assessment for the new downtown Transbay Transit Center, according filings with the city Ethics Commission.

Boston Properties and a half-dozen other developers are paying Brown to try to cut the estimated $1.4 billion assessment they're being asked to pay on the project, thanks to skyrocketing property values.

It should be an interesting fight - because so far, Brown's friend Mayor Ed Lee is telling folks that a deal is a deal, and he has no plans to back down.